Coin operated apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present coin operated apparatus indicates a winning. The winning is controlled by sensing means which sense game feature carriers when the latter enter into a sensing area. The game feature carriers, for example freely rotatable rollers, are provided with differently reflecting surfaces. A light source which is correlated with the sensing area illuminates the differently reflecting surfaces and the reflecting light is received by the sensing means, for example photo-transistors. The output of the photo-transistors is connected to suitable circuit means for controlling the evaluating and output unit.

United States Patent i191 3/1965 Great Britain 194/DIG. 111

Menke r Dec. 24, 1974 1 com OPERATED-APPARATUS 7 Primary ExtzminerStanley H. Tollberg 7 l v' V wllhel-m Menke Bulge, Germany Attorney, Agent, nr'Firm-Wolfgan'g G. Fassc; Willard [73] Assignee: NSM Apparatebau GmbH W. Roberts Kommanditgesellschaft, Bingen, 7 Germany [22] Filed: Apr. 5, 1973 57 ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.: 348,222 I a The present com operated apparatus indicates a wmning. The winning is controlled by sensing means i. Pnomy a g which sense game feature carriers when the latter Apr. 7, 1972 Germany .f. 2216635. enter into a sensing area, The game feature carriers, a for example freely rotatable rollers, are provided with [52] U .S. Cl 194/1 R differently reflecting surfaces A light source which is [5 1] Int. Cl; .L G07f 9/00 correlated with the sensing area illuminates the differ- I l Field of 194/ 1.0, G 4 ently reflecting surfaces and the reflecting light is re- 1 /4 l /3, ceived by the sensing means, for example photo- I g t Y transistors. The output of the photo-transistors is conl l ferences Cited nected to suitable circuit means for controlling the UNITED STATES PATENTS I evaluating and output unit. 3,480,785 11/1969 Aufderheide ..L 194/4 R- I 13 Claims, 6"Drawing Figures EVALU- a D DE ATING h C0 AND i av DER OUTPUT --A 8 UNIT l/ .u v l:l ..;-l lk -9 h \IVICO TRANSISTORS Pmmwm 3.856, 126

1 7 9 1O FIG.1 2

PHOTQ TRANS|STORS TRANSISTORS L r O 11 EVALU 10 DE ATING AGE h- CO AND DER OUTPUT UNIT EVALU- ATIN OUTPUT DE UNIT co DER PHOTO FIG.

TRANSISTORS .as compact as possible;

COIN OPERATED APPARATUS BACKGROUND or THE INVENTION 'tive individual winning. For example, the notches may have different depths and these different depths are scanned or sensed by pivotally arranged sensing levers.

When all'game feature carriers have entered into the sensing area the sensing levers drop into the above sensed. The output unit is then triggered in response to the sensed notch depth to indicate the winning ascertained by the sensing lever. However, such a winning sensing device is subject to substantial wear and tear.

-mentioned notches whereby the respective depth is Further, this type of sensing arrangement requires a relatively large space in the apparatus.

to achieve the following objects singly or in combination:

to avoid the drawbacks of the priorart, more specifically, to avoid'the mechanical sensing of the winning as represented by the game feature carriers;

' to provide the game feature carriers with differently reflecting surfaces whereby-the sensing may be accomplished by light sensitive means and any mechanical sensing is avoided; I v

to construct an apparatus in such a manner that its overall structure features are as simple as possible and to minimize any wear and tear to assure a substantially'trouble-fr ee operation; and

to make the sensing of the game feature carriers substantiallyfool-proof so that false outputs are avoided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention there is provided an apparatus which indicates a winning and which is characterized in that several of its game feature carriers such as freely rotatable rollers areprovided with differently reflecting surfaces, for example with different colors, whereby a .lightsourceis arranged to illuminate the game feature carriers when they are held in a sensing area. Light sensing means are arranged to receive the may be retained in the sensing area. According to a further embodiment, the sensing means may be arranged on a movable carrier so that the sensing means can be shifted along the entire length of the sensing area.

The advantages achieved according to the invention are seen especially in that due to the differently reflecting surfaces, especially due to the different coloring of the game feature carriers, an unambiguous recognition BRIEF FIGURE DESCRIPTION In order that the invention may be clearly understood, it will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: FIGS. 1, 3 and 5 illustrate the same structural characteristics except that the game feature carrier rollers are all provided with differently colored facing surfaces. These figures represent a view in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in a schematic manner wherein one photo sensing means is provided for each' differently colored surface area of the game feature carriers;

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment in which the photo sensing means are arranged on a carrier which is movable back and forth along a rail extending along the length of the sensing area of FIG. 3; and.

, .FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment with light emitting diodes and fiber optic loops arranged for receiving the light reflected by the game feature carriers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS Referring first to FIGS. 1, Sand 5 which are substantially identical to each other except for the different coloring of the front faces of the game feature carriers 3, there are shown symbolically sensing areas 1, for example, in the form of a channel into which the game feature carriers, such as rollers, drop to assume a rest position. A stop pin 2 is provided at the lower end of each sensing channel 1 to hold the rollers 3 in the stopped position. The stop pin 2 may, for example, be operated by a solenoid as is well known in the art. Each roller 3 has a facing end which according to the invention is provided with differently reflecting surfaces or each front face may have a light reflecting characteristic which differs from the light reflecting characteristic of any other roller front face.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the roller front faces are provided with an outer ring 4 having a given light reflecting characteristic and with a center spot 5 having a different light reflecting characteristic.

The different shadings illustrated in FIGS. 1, 3 and 5 are intended to illustrate that the roller front faces are Referring to the embodiment of FIG. 2, the game feature carrier rollers 3 are shown in a side view thus, the

front faces of the rollers 3 with the differently reflecting surface areas 4 and 5 may be viewed when looking in the direction of the arrow A. Accordingtothe'invention, optical sensing means are arranged to receive light reflected by the surface areas 4.and 5. These optical sensing means may comprise at least onephototransistor 6 for each separate light reflecting surface. Thus, one of the photo-transistors 6 in FIG. 2 will receive. light from the. reflecting ring surface 4 and the other 'will receive light from the reflecting spot 5.

The light for illuminating the front faces of the rollers 3 is provided by a light source 7 having a length sufficient to extend along the entire sensing area 1. It will be appreciated that the light source 7 is only illustrated diagrammatically and that in actual practice it wouldbe located so that its light will be received by the reflecting surfaces. In other words, the circuit connections between the outputs of the photo-transistors 6 and the evaluating circuit means have nothing to do with the position of thelight source 7. The outputs of the photo-transistors 6 are connected to amplifiers 8 which in turn are connected to digitizing circuit means 9, for example, analog to digital converters such as Schmitt triggers or simple threshold responsive gates. The digitizers 9 are connected to a decoder 10 which as such is well known in the art. The decoder in turn is connected to an evaluating and output unitwhich is also known in the art. The output unit 11 will indicate a winning in response to the information received from the sensing photo-transistors 6.

Referring to FIG. 4, the modification resides in the arrangement of the photo sen'singmeans 12 on a carriage 13 which is movable back and forth along a rail 14 as indicatedby the double arrow 15. The means for moving the carriage '13 are well known and therefore not shown. The control signal for moving the carriage into consecutive positions maybe derived from the winning signal conventionallydeveloped in the apparatus. The carriage 13 will be stopped in such positions that the photo-transistors 12 will be aligned to receive the light reflected from the surface areas 4 and 5 as described above. However, in the embodiment of FIG. 4 the sensing of the different rollers will be sequentially. Therefore, the amplifiers 8 and the digitizers 9 are connected to a storage unit 16 which as such is also conventional and'may' comprise flip-flop storage circuits, shift registers, or the like. The storage unit 16 is connected to the decoder 10 which in turn is connected to the evaluating and output unit 11 as in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment wherein light emitting diodes l7 and 18 are used as the light source. An optical fiber light conductor 19 is positioned to train the light emanating from the light emitting diode 17 onto the surface 4. A further optical fiber light conductor 20 is positioned to train the light emanating from the light emitting diode 18 onto the light reflecting surface 5. An optical fiber loop 21 is arranged to receive at its upper end the light reflected by the light reflecting surface 4 of the upper roller 3. The lower end of the optical fiber conductor loop 21 is positioned to illuminate the reflecting surface area 4 of the next lower roller. Similarly, the loop 22 is arranged to receive the light from the reflecting surface 4 of the intermediate rollers 3 and the other end of the loop 22 illuminates the reflecting surface 4- of the third roller 3. The reflected light is received in an optical fiber conductor 23 which supplies the light to the photo-transistor 24. The arrangement of the loops 25 and 26 is the same as just described with reference to the loops 20 and 22.. Thus, the optical fiber conductor 27 receives the light-reflected from the second light reflecting surface of the third roller and transmits the light to the phototransistor 28. These photo-transistors 24 and 28 are connected with their outputs to amplifiers 8 and digitizers 9 which in turn are connected through the decoder 10 to the eval uating and output unit 11 as described above.

The light emission and reception by the optical fiber conductors and loops shown in FIG. 6 is indicated by the respective little arrows at the end of the conductors and at the ends of the loops. This arrangement provides a direct coding of the information sensed from'the reflecting surfaces of the game feature carrier rollers 3.

. The arrangement of the optical fiber loops as taught by the invention actually provides the function of a logic AND-gate because the photo-transistors 24 and 28 receive the light from the upper roller, and from the intermediate roller, as well as from the lower third roller.

Although the invention has been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it is to be un derstood, that it is intended to cover all modifications and equivalents within the scope of theappended claims.

What is claimed is: v g

1. In a coin operated apparatus which indicates a winning wherein game feature carriers are freely movable within predetermined boundaries in the apparatus,

wherein a sensing area is providedfor receiving said game feature carriers, wherein sensing means are arranged for sensing said game feature carriers when they are in said sensing area, and wherein said sensing means are connected to evaluating means for controlling an output in response to sensing said game feature carriers, the improvement comprising a plurality of game feature carriers at least several of which are providedwith a plurality of differently reflecting surfaces, light source means arranged to'illuminate said differ ently reflecting surfaces when said game feature carriers are in said sensing area, light sensitive sensing means arranged to receive light reflected from a plurality of said differently reflecting surfaces of each of said several carriers, and circuit means for connecting said light sensitive sensing means to said evaluating means.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said differently reflecting surfaces of the game feature carriers comprise differently colored surface areas.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said game feature carriers comprises a first surface area having a given light reflecting characteristic and a further surface area having a different light reflecting characteristic.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said further surface area is circular and wherein said first surface area is ring shaped to surround said circular surface area.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sensing means comprise at least one photo-transistor sensing means comprise at least one photo-transistor for each reflecting surface of each game feature car- 7. The apparatus according to claim. 1, further comprising means 'for movably supporting said sensing means whereby said sensing means may be shifted for sequentially sensing different game feature carriers.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said light source means comprise at least one light emitting diode arranged to illuminate a first game feature carrier in a row in said sensing area, said apparatus further comprising optical fiber conductors arranged in loops between adjacent game feature carriers, said sensing means comprising at least one photo-transistor arranged for sensing thelast game feature carrier in a row, whereby said loops provide a coupling of said game feature carriers in a logic AND-sense.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said light source means comprise an elongated light source which extends along the length of said sensing area.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said circuit means for connecting said light sensitive sensing means to said evaluating means comprise amplifiers means, analog to digital converter means and decoder means arranged in that sequence between the sensing means and the evaluating means.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising storage means connected between said analog to digital converter means and said decoder means.

12. The apparatus accordingto claim 1, wherein each of said game feature carriers comprise a different coloring on said differently reflecting surfaces.

13. In a coin' operated apparatus which indicates a winning, wherein game feature carriers are freely movable within predetermined boundaries in the apparatus, wherein a sensing area is provided for receiving said game feature carriers, wherein sensing means are arranged for sensing said game feature carriers when they source means comprising at least one light emitting device arranged to illuminate a first game feature carrier in a row in said sensing area, and optical fiber conductors arranged in loops between adjacent game feature carriers, said sensing means comprising at least one photo-transistor arranged for sensing the last game feature carrier in a row, whereby said loops provide a coupling of said game feature carriers in a logic AND- sense. 

1. In a coin operated apparatus which indicates a winning wherein game feature carriers are freely movable within predetermined boundaries in the apparatus, wherein a sensing area is provided for receiving said game feature carriers, wherein sensing means are arranged for sensing said game feature carriers when they are in said sensing area, and wherein said sensing means are connected to evaluating means for controlling an output in response to sensing said game feature carriers, the improvement comprising a plurality of game feature carriers at least several of which are provided with a plurality of differently reflecting surfaces, light source means arranged to illuminate said differently reflecting surfaces when said game feature carriers are in said sensing area, light sensitive sensing means arranged to receive light reflected from a plurality of said differently reflecting surfaces of each of said several carriers, and circuit means for connecting said light sensitive sensing means to said evaluating means.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said differently reflecting surfaces of the game feature carriers comprise differently colored surface areas.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said game feature carriers comprises a first surface area having a given light reflecting characteristic and a further surface area having a different light reflecting characteristic.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said further surface area is circular and wherein said first surface area is ring shaped to surround said circular surface area.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sensing means comprise at least one photo-transistor for each game feature carrier.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said sensing means comprise at least one photo-transistor for each reflecting surface of each game feature carrier.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for movably supporting said sensing means whereby said sensing means may be shifted for sequentially sensing different game feature carriers.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said light source means comprise at least one light emitting diode arranged to illuminate a first game feature carrier in a row in said sensing area, said apparatus further comprising optical fiber conductors arranged in loops between adjacent game feature carriers, said sensing means comprising at least one photo-transistor arranged for sensing the last game feature carrier in a row, whereby said loops provide a coupling of said game feature carriers in a logic AND-sense.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said light source means comprise an elongated light source which extends along the length of said sensing area.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said circuit means for connecting said light sensitive sensing means to said evaluating means comprise amplifiers means, analog to digital converter means and decoder means arranged in that sequence between the sensing means and the evaluating means.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising storage means connected between said analog to digital converter means and said decoder means.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of said game feature carriers comprise a different coloring on said differently reflecting surfaces.
 13. In a coin operated apparatus which indicates a winning, wherein game feature carriers are freely movable within predetermiNed boundaries in the apparatus, wherein a sensing area is provided for receiving said game feature carriers, wherein sensing means are arranged for sensing said game feature carriers when they are in said sensing area, and wherein said sensing means are connected to evaluating means for controlling an output in response to sensing said game feature carriers, the improvement comprising a plurality of game feature carriers at least several of which are provided with differently reflecting surfaces, light source means arranged to illuminate said differently reflecting surfaces when said game feature carriers are in said sensing area, light sensitive sensing means arranged to receive light reflected from said differently reflecting surfaces, circuit means for connecting said light sensitive sensing means to said evaulating means, said light source means comprising at least one light emitting device arranged to illuminate a first game feature carrier in a row in said sensing area, and optical fiber conductors arranged in loops between adjacent game feature carriers, said sensing means comprising at least one photo-transistor arranged for sensing the last game feature carrier in a row, whereby said loops provide a coupling of said game feature carriers in a logic AND-sense. 